From: Chris Rasch (crasch@openknowledge.org)
Date: Mon Feb 26 2001 - 13:56:07 MST
-------- Original Message --------
Subject: [e-gold-list] E-GOLD has more gold than 24 IMF member
countries!
Date: Mon, 26 Feb 2001 12:00:17 -0500
From: "R. A. Hettinga" <rah@shipwright.com>
To: Digital Bearer Settlement List <dbs@philodox.com>
--- begin forwarded text
Date: Sun, 25 Feb 2001 15:56:47 -0500
Subject: [e-gold-list] E-GOLD has more gold than 24 IMF member
countries!
To: "e-gold Discussion" <e-gold-list@talk.e-gold.com>
From: "pikinien" <pikinien@hushmail.com>
List-Subscribe: <mailto:subscribe-e-gold-list@talk.e-gold.com>
Sender: bounce-e-gold-list-56@talk.e-gold.com
The World Gold Council publishes a monthly list of official gold
holdings
of 112 countries and institutions. This list is mainly based on data
reported to the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
E-GOLD has 44,800 ounces in the vault, which is equal to 1.4 tonnes (at
32,151 troy ounces per metric tonne). This puts e-gold on rank #88 of
the
112 countries. It means that e-gold has already more gold than 24 of the
IMF member countries. Not bad for a young Internet company.
The WGC statistics reveal some worrying aspects of the national
currencies:
1. The total gold holding of the 109 countries + IMF + BIS + ECB is just
under 33,000 tonnes which is on average only 12% of the countries'
reserves. The USA reported 8,136 tonnes (56%), the Euro countries 12,427
tonnes (31%), the IMF 3,217 tonnes and Switzerland 2,419 tonnes (40%).
These four groups own 80% of the total official gold
2. The statistics include gold leased out to bullion banks and
manufacturers. The physical gold owned by the central banks might be
less.
I have not yet obtained accurate statistics to determine the extent of
the
gold leasing
3. Harry Schultz estimated in January 2001 that 78% of the non-gold
reserves are held in US Dollars or US Treasury bonds. This places an
extreme responsibility on Alan Greenspan to maintain the international
confidence in the dollar.
4. These statistics reinforce the conclusion that the Dollar and all
national currencies are backed by someone else's liability. As long as
everyone has confidence in the system it will work. However, this week
the
Turkish Lira collapsed in value by 28%.
5. Douglas Jackson's comment a few days ago about the possibility that
Bullion banks might not always have the physical gold in stock, just
highlighted the fact that most institutions have short positions in
gold.
This is very profitable while the price is falling and many institutions
would be very vulnerable in case the price would start to go up.
In a new book, The Future of Money, Mr Bernard Lietaer (ex- Belgian
National Bank) makes a strong argument for commodity backed currencies
(like e-gold) and for time based community currencies (like TimeDollars
and LETS). He does not spare his criticism of fiat currencies. It is
worth
reading.
The tide is changing against national currencies and e-gold, e-dinar and
GoldMoney are well placed to become major methods of payment in the
future.
Sources:
World Gold Council web site February 2001: www.gold.org
The Future of Money : www.transaction.net/money/book
The Harry Schultz letter as published on www.gold-eagle.com
--- You are currently subscribed to e-gold-list as: rah@shipwright.com To unsubscribe send a blank email to leave-e-gold-list-56L@talk.e-gold.com --- end forwarded text -- ----------------- R. A. Hettinga <mailto: rah@ibuc.com> The Internet Bearer Underwriting Corporation <http://www.ibuc.com/> 44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA "... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity, [predicting the end of the world] has not been found agreeable to experience." -- Edward Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'
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